The recent New York Times article highlighted the consensus that extended school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic did not significantly curb its spread but resulted in substantial academic setbacks for children. Remote learning was a significant contributor to these declines, particularly for younger students struggling to maintain attention and grasp foundational skills like reading, writing, and math.
While keeping schools closed was initially understandable due to the uncertainties of the novel virus, the prolonged closures had severe consequences. Children increasingly felt isolated and adrift as remote learning became the norm. Public health data later revealed that children faced a low risk of severe COVID-19, bringing into question the necessity of widespread school closures.
Families grappled with difficult choices between health and education, but public schooling exacerbated the situation. By mandating remote learning for all students, regardless of their circumstances, it failed to provide the flexibility and options that families needed. Private schools, on the other hand, mostly stayed open, offering in-person instruction and experiencing less learning loss.
A Cato Institute survey revealed that 88% of private schools had reopened by fall 2020 or had never closed. This contributed to a surge in private school enrollment, with nearly half of the schools reporting more applicants than available seats. Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that Roman Catholic schools, the only private schools with available data, maintained or improved their fourth- and eighth-grade math and reading scores, while public schools’ scores declined.
Had public school funding followed students during the pandemic, more could have accessed in-person instruction. School choice would have also alleviated the controversies surrounding vaccination and masking mandates during reopenings. While prolonged public school closures may have been a catalyst for increased school choice programs in over 20 states, there are concerns about the long-term sustainability of private schools in the absence of these programs.
The crucial lesson from the pandemic is not that public schools should have remained closed but that they should have provided more options and flexibility to meet the diverse needs of students. By embracing school choice, many more children could have avoided the learning losses that may take years to overcome.
